Maintained illuminance

There is a simple recipe for preventing accidents: see and be seen. But vision is a complex process. Road lighting needs to take account of that. Daylight illuminance ranges from 5,000 to 100,000 lux (lx). On a moonlit night, it reaches 0.25 lx at most. The fact that we can “see” over this vast brightness range is due to the eye’s ability to adapt.

Optimal production results depend crucially on the level of employee commitment. Correct lighting helps boost motivation, prevents fatigue, maintains health and guards against accidents at work. According to DIN EN 12464-1 “Lighting of indoor work places”, the objectives of lighting are to ensure visual comfort and visual performance.

There is a very old saying that all cats look grey at night. Today, thanks partly to the growing trend to furnish private homes and gardens with sophisticated outdoor lighting, that saying is no longer as true as it once was. Facades subtly accentuated by light and encircled by greenery imbue such buildings with an inviting, homely atmosphere. Illuminated gardens extend the domestic living space outwards, illuminated boundaries enable the space to be experienced as a whole, even in winter.

Booklet 1 of the licht.de series of publications
is intended for all those who want to
delve into the topic of light and lighting or
wish to familiarize themselves with the basics
of lighting technology. It also forms the
introduction to a series of publications designed
to provide useful information on
lighting applications for all those involved in
planning or decision-making in the field of
lighting.
One of the principal objectives of all licht.de
publications is to promote awareness of a
medium which we generally take for granted
and use without a second thought.

Light sources should be as small as possible, produce light efficiently and have a long life. The demands of architects, light planners and operators of lighting installations have formed the basis of the research and development work of the lighting industry. Today more light sources with these properties are on the market than ever before in the history of artificial light. Until now, however, no filament or discharge lamp has combined all three properties. Only light emitting diodes (LEDs), also called light diodes, achieve this.

In modern knowledge society, in a world becoming increasingly complex and high tech, we need to be prepared to keep on acquiring new knowledge and learning new skills. From kindergarten to university, vocational school to adult education centre, there are a host of institutions available to help us do this.

Cosmetics promise beauty, clothes signal lifestyle – even a wholemeal bread roll stands for a philosophy today. Long gone are the days when merchandise was bought just to meet needs. Shopping today is an emotional activity, a stimulating recreational experience. And lighting helps shape that experience. In a modern retail store, lighting performs a dual function: it helps busy shoppers quickly get their bearings and creates a myriad of inspirational environments packed with ideas for the shopper’s personal lifestyle.

From soccer stadiums to fitness centres – sports and leisure amenities are a big investment, costly to build and costly to run. And the soundness of that investment hinges on how much the amenities are used. It takes more than just architectural allure to ensure acceptance, however. Users need to feel comfortable, especially recreational users, most of whom only have time for sport in the evenings, i.e. when it is usually dark. That is where lighting comes in.

Light and dark, hot and cold or the cyclical change of the seasons: the rotation and inclination of the Earth give rise to constantly recurring changes that, in the course of evolution, have resulted in human beings developing a circadian system – a system of internal clocks that anticipate such changes. Like the complex movement of a clock, it controls and coordinates the 24-hour variation of all bodily functions.

Around 100 million people a year visit Germany’s museums to view, experience, admire and enjoy their exhibits. There are more than 6,000 such institutions in total, with a wide variety of collections, a broad spectrum of specialisations and presentation concepts that range from hands-on displays for an interactive experience to quiet retreats for silent contemplation. What they all have in common, however, is that they seek to inspire the visitor. Whether the focus is art or science, technology or history, the presentation needs to be appealing, interesting and varied....

One of the most important things in life is having a place where we really feel at home. It makes no difference whether it we own it or rent it or whether it is an apartment or a house: what matters is the sense of security and wellbeing we feel within its walls. The right lighting concept plays a crucial role here. Science defines light as the band of electromagnetic radiation that is perceptible by the human eye. The designer sees it as a tool offering innumerable possibilities for crafting living space to suit personal needs and preferences....

Nothing in the working world has undergone such a radical transformation in recent years as office work. With rapid advances in information and communication technologies, corporate structures in a state of ﬂux and totally new forms of work emerging, today’s world of work is a world of computers and networks, workﬂow and data exchange. Office work has become information and communication work. But changes in the way we work also impact on other areas of our private and working lives.

Street lighting and other forms of exterior lighting normally found in cities ensure that the basic requirements of residents and visitors are met: an adequate level of lighting facilitates orientation and provides security after dark.

Correct lighting has long been identified as a crucial factor for health and safety at work. The message that every lighting criterion needs to be duly considered in the design of a plant or facility is communicated in a variety of ways. But attention generally focuses on interiors. It is often forgotten that a considerable amount of work is performed outdoors – at workplaces with no or insufficient natural lighting. Outdoor workplace lighting needs to meet specific requirements – requirements that differ from those of both classical interior lighting and road lighting....

Anyone looking for information about power outages in Germany needs to consult the “Availability Statistics” published by the association of German electricity network operators (VDN) within the German Energy and Water Association (BDEW). This is where the power industry keeps a tally of “incidents”, by which it generally means mains power failures.

For work or recreation, business or pleasure – whatever the reason, all sorts of people spend a great deal of time in hotels and guest houses, restaurants and bars. Whether the experience is a positive one depends on a lot of factors. But visual impact is high on the list. Outside our normal environment our senses are particularly alert, ready to register and store unfamiliar and positive new impressions. This is an automatic human response – one that paves the way for an appreciation of surroundings crafted for aesthetic appeal....

New lighting quality standards Within the framework of European harmonisation, new standards are being developed to replace national ones. Against the backdrop of the revision and reformulation of requirements that this entails, professionals have been debating a new extended concept of quality. The extended concept of lighting quality The practice of defining lighting quality on the basis of certain quality features has stood the test of time.